


Broken

by TheEmu



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 03:57:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9530552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmu/pseuds/TheEmu
Summary: As time went by, the four friends slowly diminished. First Mike, then Lucas, then Will, until the four friends had all gone their separate ways. Dustin and Will still talked regularly, but they kept away from each other most of the time because they were constant reminders of the adventures the five of them shared in November of 1983, and about how it had gone from five of them to two.





	1. Fuck You!

Three loud and quick knocks arrived at Dustin Henderson’s door on August 16th, 1994. “Coming!” Dustin yelled from inside his house. His footsteps grew louder as he rapidly approached the door. The door swung open, and the curly-haired man cheerfully smiled at the woman at the door for a moment, until his face fell and he stared at her face.

She started talking quickly in a loud southern accent, “Hello, mister! I’m looking for a Mike Wheeler, I was told you might know where he--” she cut off when she noticed he was staring at her.

Dustin stammered, “I-it’s…” he took a few steps backwards. “It’s you.”

Her face turned calm and she pulled the long ginger wig off of her head, revealing her longish, straight, brown hair. The left corner of her mouth curled up, and her eyes started to water. “I should’ve figured you’d see past the disguise,” Eleven calmly said normally, as she hugged Dustin.

“Come in, please! I wasn’t really expecting visitors, so the place’s a little messy,” he started, before realizing she really didn’t care. “So, you’re looking for Mike, huh?”

Her face lit up, and she nodded.

Dustin sighed, and frowned. “I don’t know if you really want to see him anymore. He’s such a jerk now. I tried talking with him a few weeks ago and all I left his apartment with was a suggestion to lose some weight. Hell, he was drinking a beer the whole damn time. Whole place smelled of alcohol and cigarettes.”

El frowned. That wasn’t the Mike she remembered. She remembered a kind, sweet boy who saved her from the rain in November of 1983. “I want to see him,” she insisted.

Dustin sighed again. “Fine, but I won’t let you go alone. I’m coming with you.” 

The two of them got into Dustin’s car and drove to Mike’s apartment. They walked up to Mike’s door, number 47, and knocked. “Listen, let me do the talking,” Dustin whispered. El nodded.

After half a minute of no answer, Dustin knocked again. They heard a loud crash from inside the building. “Yeah, yeah. On my way, dammit!” a man screamed.

A little while later, the door opened. A man with a poorly shaven face, long, uncut hair, and an unbuttoned shirt stood in the doorway. “Whadda you want, Dustin?”, the man muttered, and turned to look at the girl standing at his door. He awkwardly waved his hand in her general direction, while turning to look back to Dustin, “Who’s she, your new girlfriend? Prostitute? Ah, I bet prostitute,” he asked, glancing at her torn clothing. He raised his eyebrows at Dustin. “Actually, I don’t give a fuck. What the hell do you want now, Dustin?” he demanded.

El’s eyes teared up. He doesn’t recognize me at all. This isn’t Mike. She turned around, and hid behind the wall next to the door. Dustin took notice, and said, “You know what? Nevermind! Fuck you, dude,” to Mike, and grabbed El’s hand, taking her back to the car. As they retreated, they heard Mike scoff something along the lines of, “bout time I get some peace,” and Dustin sighed. He knew it was a terrible idea to come here.

The two of them sat in the car for a few minutes before pulling away. “Dustin?” El finally stopped the tears and asked. Dustin looked at El. “What is ‘prostitute’?” Dustin frowned.

“It’s uhh...a woman who sells sex for money.” Dustin explained. El started crying harder now.

“Is—is that what he thinks of me?” she got out between tears.

“El, he doesn’t even recognize you, he’s just a jerk because he doesn’t know who you are. Hell, he’s still a jerk to me and he does know who I am. It’s nothing personal,” Dustin reassured her. He was about to pull away when he figured that he hadn’t come out here for nothing. “Listen, I’m gonna go talk to him real quick. You stay here, alright?” She nodded.

He got out of the car once again and headed back to Mike’s door. He knocked again, and Mike came quicker this time. “Fucking hell, Dustin!”

“Let me in, we need to talk,” Dustin demanded, and Mike groaned, but let him in. “Mike, man, you need to get your life together!”

“My life is great! I have everything I could ever want,” Mike said, falling backward onto his couch.

“You’re not happy. None of us have been happy since we all went our own ways. Maybe you are because you don’t give a damn about anybody else, but I’m not going to let you sit in your apartment and drink yourself to death!” Dustin yelled.

Mike just stared at him for a few moments, before his eyes slowly trailed off into nothingness.

“Do you remember the last time you were happy?” Dustin asked him.

Mike looked sarcastically thoughtful, “Oh, yes! It was when you left with that bitch the first time! Then you come running back up to my door again, dammit! Who’s the bitch anyway?”

Dustin sighed, “Mike...” He sat down on the couch next to Mike and stared in front of him. “Do you remember the girl that saved Will? The one you really liked?”

Mike began laughing hysterically. “The...the one chick you all convinced me wasn’t real? Bahahaha! What is this, some kind of joke? You all told me she was dead. What, you expect me to believe that the bitch that was just here was her? Dustin, I’m not retarded! Anyway, please get the hell out of here. I thought I made it clear that I don’t want to talk with you guys anymore. All anyone ever does is frustrate me!” he yelled.

Dustin looked up at Mike, and then to the door. “Fuck you, Mike,” he said, before promptly leaving the building. On his way out, he saw El with tears in her eyes by the door, listening in on their conversation. He shook his head, and gestured for her to come back into the car.

As they drove away, the bang of a gunshot echoed through the streets. El jumped, and Dustin held her hand to calm her. “It’s okay. This is actually fairly normal. Mike can’t afford to live in a good area, so he has to live out here. It’s not safe, there’s all kinds of violence and shit out here,” Dustin told her. She looked back longingly at Mike’s apartment, getting smaller and smaller as they drove away. She missed Mike.


	2. Reunited

El repeatedly paced back and fourth around Dustin’s living room. “Where are they?!” she asked, clearly fed up with the wait.

“They’ll be here soon. Remember, they haven’t talked in who knows how long. For all we know, they might’ve gotten into some kind of big argume--” Dustin stopped when he heard two men chatting outside the front door, followed by two quick knocks.

“El, go stay in that room while I talk to them for a few minutes,” he said, pointing towards the door to a room next to the sofa. “Don’t want to freak them out just yet.”

El complied and Dustin walked towards the door, taking a deep breath, before swinging the door open wide. Lucas and Dustin immediately smiled at each other, “Been a while, my man!” Lucas said, patting him on the back.

“Sure has! Come in,” he offered, and led them to the living room.

El heard a bit of chatter in the room over, but couldn’t hear what they were talking about. She heard a few raised voices, and then a loud, “No way!” by Lucas. Dustin opened the door to her room, and led her into the living room.

After a few seconds of silent staring, Lucas said in awe, “Holy shit you’re really back!” Will glanced at her and stayed quiet while Lucas gave her a hug. 

When she turned to look at Will, he walked towards her slowly and stopped in front of her. “So you’re El, huh?” he asked softly, and she nodded. “Well, I don’t really know what to say to you. I mean you saved my life! So thanks, I guess. Thanks a lot!” he said, more enthusiastically.

El smiled at him, not knowing how to reply to that. She quickly tried to recall responses she’s heard people say. After a few silent, awkward moments, she said, “You’re welcome...Will,” hesitating before his name.

Dustin interrupted, “Okay boys, we have a situation. It’s Mike.”

“Shoot,” Will whispered to himself, knowing that dealing with Mike was never a good experience.

Lucas’ eyes moved from El to Dustin, and then trailed off into nothingness for a few moments, before refocusing on a framed picture of the four boys at the age of 11 on Dustin’s mantel. He looked solemnly at the photo for a few moments, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He vividly recalled how the four got split apart. It all started when El disappeared. Mike faked it for a few months before he broke. He began to get aggressive and violent. He started up arguments for no reason, got suspended after blowing his top on Troy. He stopped playing DnD with them, and eventually stopped talking with them at all. Once he moved out of his parents’ house, he went through multiple shitty jobs. Lucas was far closer to Mike than Dustin or Will, knowing Mike nearly his entire life. Lucas had nothing against Dustin or Will, but he took losing his friend hard. Lucas eventually went his own way too, and then Dustin and Will were left together. They had a strong bond together, just as Mike and Lucas had had.

“What happened?” Lucas asked Dustin.

“El and I were just over at his apartment because she wanted to see him, and he just kept calling her all kinds of shit, and he didn’t believe me at all when I told him who she was. He was being such a dick,” Dustin told them. El looked down sadly and began playing with her fingers.

“Damn,” Lucas muttered. After a few moments of silence, Lucas asked, “Did you guys ever think that...that maybe it’s our fault? How he ended up?” Dustin and Will looked at him, confused. “I mean, we were the ones that convinced him El was dead and gone.” El glanced up at him at the mention of her name.

“Maybe you’re right, and now, look! She’s here and alive,” Will said, gesturing towards El. “But we messed him up too much for him to notice.”

Dustin nodded, “We need to make it up to him, somehow.”

“Better sooner than later, I’d say. Come on, let’s go now.” Lucas suggests, and they all head over to Mike’s.

On the drive, Dustin said, “Man, Mike’s going to be pissed when he sees us. He’s already seen me twice today.”

“Yeah, how are we even supposed to make it up to him? We don’t have a plan or anything!” Will said, worriedly.

As they drive down some streets, ambulances and police cars zoom down the streets in front of them. “Wow, something crazy must’ve happened,” Will pointed out.

El’s face went pale and she leaned forward into the front seat, and stared straight forward. “Mike,” she said softly, tearing up. Dustin and Will stared at her in horror, as Lucas pulled in on Mike’s street. Police surrounded Mike’s apartment and an ambulance raced down the street back to the hospital. Mike’s car was crashed into a tree, with shattered windows. The window of his apartment has a bullet hole in it, and there was a bit of blood smeared on his door knob.

The four of them jumped out of the car to ask the officers what happened. “Apartment was robbed and the victim was shot as he was trying to drive away,” the officer said.

El turned around and started crying. She hated crying in front of all these people, but she couldn’t help it. Even though Mike was being so mean to her and Dustin, she couldn’t help but still feel attached to him somehow. She cared for him, even though he had hurt her. She felt like she shouldn’t, but she did. She just wanted Mike back. She just wanted him safe. Even if he didn’t deserve it.


	3. Hospital Bed

Eleven sat still in the car, staring out the window, face pressed up against the glass. She glanced over at the bright lights shooting through the windows of the Hospital she was parked in front of.

“El, come on. Let’s go inside,” Dustin offered.

She turned her head towards him and a single tear fell from her left eye. “I don’t like hospitals,” she whimpered, but opened the door of the car anyways, and stood up. “But this is for Mike,” she added confidently, and she walked towards the door, followed by Dustin.

“Which room?” she asked, turning to Dustin.

“Room eleven, actually! Funny, huh?” Dustin chuckled, and El lifted her hand, and stroked the ‘011’ tattoo on the underside of her wrist with her forefinger. Dustin took notice and shut up.

The two joined Lucas and Will in the hospital room. El sat down on the chair closest to the hospital bed, and looked at Mike. He looked different, now that he was older. His chin was a bit more defined, his hair was longer. He had a very small amount of unevenly shaven facial hair around his chin and upper lip. His skin didn’t look very smooth, but rough with little bumps and imperfections all over it. She gently smirked at him, noticing how different he was physically from how she remembered him. A tear formed in her eye. His personality had also changed. He turned into a jerk. A ‘dick’ as Dustin had said.

“I’ve missed him so much,” she said, fully crying now. “It’s been 11 years! And then this happens!” She moves closer to Mike’s body. She plants a kiss on his cheek. Her red lipstick from her disguise was left on his skin. She closed her eyes and rested her head next to his on the bed.

Will and Lucas walked out of the room after a few minutes to go sit outside of the room, and Dustin took the seat closest to the door, two seats down from El. Dustin glanced at El as she slowly fell asleep, before he turned his gaze to the window.

After no more than ten minutes, El was fully asleep.

Suddenly, Mike stirred in the bed. His eyes shot open, and he blindly glanced around for a few seconds before realizing the situation. He saw Dustin sitting in a chair with his eyes closed and head leaned back against the wall, and...the girl. Her head was so close to his own. What the fuck was she doing? He was about to wake her, but he couldn’t help but stare at her. She was...pretty. What? No! What am I saying? Only El is pretty. Was pretty. She’s gone now. But this girl laying her head on his hospital bed. Suddenly he realized he was in a hospital. What happened? The last thing he remembered was...getting into a car?

He glanced around the room once more, before feeling a sudden pain in his left arm. Shit! It looked like he was shot. But it didn’t look that bad. It must’ve been healing for a few days already. Wow, these two are still here after multiple days? That’s some dedication. For the first time over ten years Mike felt somewhat happy. He had kept himself from yelling at them, and took a while to analyze what was really going on here. He turned his attention back to the girl resting on the chair next to him, with her head next to his. She really was pretty. And she looked peaceful. She actually looked very similar to El. He moved his right hand up to her face and tucked the loose hair in front of her eye behind her ear.

He stared at her for seconds, which turned into minutes. His head was laid back down on the bed, facing her. Suddenly, her eyes fluttered open and she looked confusedly at Mike. 

“You’re...very pretty,” Mike said softly and hesitantly. El stared at him and wondered how he had changed. Just earlier today he was calling her a bitch and a prostitute. She knew he wasn’t himself then, but who was he now? Was he different now? Did he really change?

“What’s your name?” he asked her.

She hesitated. Maybe she should pretend to be someone else. It might be easier on Mike. But she didn’t. She rolled up her sleeve and pointed at the tattoo on the back of her wrist. Mikes’ eyes widened as he touched it with his finger. “El,” she said.

“It’s really you, isn’t it?” he asked, pulling her closed to him. He wrapped his arms around her back and started crying into her shoulder.

Right then, Lucas and Will walked back into the room. Lucas let out an, “Oh shit!” as he saw Mike was awake, and then noticed he was also hugging El. And crying. The two shook Dustin awake, and they saw El looking at them out of the corner of her eye. She pat him on the back and pushed him away a little bit to look him in the eyes.

“Don’t cry, everything is OK now!” she smiled at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I gave up on you. I’m sorry I lost all that time we could’ve had. I’m sorry for--” El cut him off.

“Mike,” she said sharply but lovingly. That got him to shut up. “You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s not your fault.”

Mike noticed his three old friends standing by the doorway, watching the two of them. “I’m sorry for ruining our friendship,” he said quietly, but they all heard him anyways. “That’s one thing I can be sorry for.”

They all approached him slowly. They have missed this Mike for so long, but that’s the thing. Can they forgive Mike after ten years of torment?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm wondering what everyone's thinking of this story at the moment. I may have rushed it a bit. I kinda wished there was more story before the shooting, but I might be able to add some kind of flashbacks in or something.


End file.
